Liechtenstein 1995 Christmas

• Label : "Liechtensteinische Post AG"; commemorative stamps of the issue "Christmas 1995";
  

stamp motive with an altar piece (triptych with paintings) by Lorenzo Monaco (1370-1425);
(issue of 3 stamps)

Note:
Don Lorenzo Monaco was born in 1370 as "Giovanni di Petro" in Siena (Italy). ("Monaco" = monk) He left Siena in order to get a painter in Florence, where he finally got a monk of the "Congregation of the Monk Hermits of Camaldoli" in the monastery "Santa Maria degli Angeli" in Florence. He has created, among others also the altar piece depicted on the Liechtenstein stamps of Christmas 1995. It is contemporary a piece in the "Fürstliche Sammlungen" of the house of Liechtenstein and was acquired in 1900 by the then Prince Johann II of Liechtenstein from a Professor Constantini in Florence. Lorenco Monaco was to his time an important representant of the "Florentiner Malschule" This triptych was created around 1420 in the style of the Italian Late Gothic or Early Renaissance as artwork of the so-called „Florentiner Malschule“ (German for "Florentine painting school"). The Madonna on the middle part of this triptych was original painted on golden background and was called to right as "Madonna dell‘Umilta" among others because of her special soft figurative kind.

Stamp datas:

• Catalogue numbers : Michel: No. 1120-1122; Yvert & Tellier: No. 1061-1063; Scott: No. 1060-1062; Zumstein: No. 1062-1064

- Maxicards No. 136

- official FDC from 04-12-1995

• Color : multicolored
• Watermarks: none
• Nominal values : 60 (rappen, Centimes) - 80 (Rappen, Centimes) - 1.00 (Franken, Francs)
• Postage validity : to 31-12-2001
• Stamp size : printed area of a single stamp without signature line: 25.5 x 34.0 mm
• Designed by :

- M.Siegel (Stockerau, Lower Austria, designer of the stamps)

name in Austria: Maria Siegl

name in Liechtenstein: Marianne Siegl

- Wolfgang Seidel (Austria, engraver of the stamps) (* 1946)

• Printed by : "Österreichische Staatsdruckerei", Vienna
• Print Process : Recess printing and photogravure, combined
• Perforations : Comb perforation, K 14¼ : 13½
• Print runs :

- 60 (Rappen) : 575,488

- 80 (Rappen) : 659,828 (other source: 659,826)

- 100 (Rappen) : 576,168 (other source: 489,097)

• Stamp size (printed area of a single stamp without signatur line) : 25.0 x 33.5 mm

Commemorative stamps of the issue "Christmas 1995";
(issue of 3 stamps)

Stamps, mint

60r

80r

1f

Stamps, postmarked

Michel No. 1120, postmarked

Michel No. 1121, postmarked

Michel No. 1122, postmarked

First Day Cover

FDC

To the stamp motives:
All motives are a reproduction from an altar piece (triptych) by Don Lorenzo Monaco (1370-1425), created around 1420:
- 60 (Rappen) : The stamp motive shows a detail of the left wing of the altar triptych: a kneeling angel facing right
- 80 (Rappen) : The stamp motive shows the painting from the middle part of the triptych with the title "The Madonna of Humility with two angels"
- 100 (Rappen) : The stamp motive shows a detail of the right wing of the altaar triptych: a kneeling angel facing to left

Note:
",,,The mother holds her child so closely to her cheek that the two figures seem to merge into one. Here form emphasizes content, the closeness of mother and child. This approach, marked by a fluidity of line, was a pan-European phenomenon in the period around 1400, and is now known as the Soft Style...." (quotation from the exhibitiion catalogue of the "Liechtenstein Museum")
Paragon for the entire painting was very probably the around 1310 created painting "Madonna Enthroned" (also called "Ognissanti Madonna") by Giotto di Bondone (?-1337) contemporary shown in the Church of Ognissanti in Florence (Italy). This there painting is described as painting in the style of the "Maniera greca" and is seen as a early work of the later Mannerism and is a masterwork of the Byzantine art in the Italian Early Renaissance. "...The figures have substance, dimensionality, and bulk, and give the illusion they could throw shadows...".